During this visit, you should work with one or more groups of students if you haven't already, and observe your teacher doing the same. For this journal entry, describe your teacher's teaching style. What type of relationships with students does he or she nurture in his or her classes? How do students perceive that power is distributed in the classes? Does this vary within or across the different classes the teacher has? Cite examples from your observations to support your inferences. Remember to reflect on what style of teaching you will gravitate toward and the how you want to be perceived by your students.
Observation: This week I only had the opportunity to observe my middle school due to NECAP testing. The class was mainly a lecture, introducing a new the new concept of Eclipses. Because the students aren't allowed to take their books home, the teacher incorporates reading the material in the book as part of her way for introducing new material. Students take turns reading a paragraph, and after each paragraph the teacher pauses to further explain what mew concepts were introduced. To accompany the reading, the teacher put notes on her Smartboard that she had previously made. She included hyperlinks to interactive learning tools that helped reinforce the concepts of the lesson and the students seemed very responsive of these. The lecture concluded after about 45 minutes and the teacher recapped the key concepts and terms by asking questions to students and leading a discussion. After the discussion, she asked the students to work in groups to complete a worksheet using data of seen eclipses and data of full and new moons. The classroom is set up so students are already in groups which saves time in making groups and rearranging the classroom for groupwork. During the groupwork, the teacher and I walked around the classroom checking in with the groups and answering questions they might have had, further explaining the concepts and making sure every student fully understood them. The teacher then went over the answers with the students, calling on students to explain their answers. The students then watched a video from Discovery Education which touched on nearly all of the concepts taught in the unit.
Reflection: After being in Mrs. Brocato's classroom for the second time, it is clear the students really respect and listen to her. As students walked in they quietly came in talking amongst themselves, sat down and got prepared for class. As soon as the bell rang, Mrs. Brocato began talking and had the students undivided attention. It's clear that Mrs. Brocato's teaching style is more teacher oriented than student oriented, but I feel like has a good balance where although she is in control of the class, many of her activities and labs are group oriented. In the groups, students also worked in a quiet and orderly manner. In other classes I've observed, groupwork can be an opportunity for students to get off task and simply talk to each other. In Mrs. Brocato's classroom however, the students seemed to utilize this time extremely well staying on task throughout the activity. It seems as though students are clear as to what is expected of them and I haven't even seen Mrs. Brocato try to get a student back on task because they all seem to be engrossed in every lecture and activity. One reason for this could be because at Exeter West Greenwich Junior High they loop their students, meaning that the students stay with the same team in both 7th and 8th grade. From what I've seen I don't believe that she treats her classes differently, although I've only had the opportunity to observe the same classroom twice. I think one of the reasons the students are so engaged in her style of teaching is due to the use of the Smartboard. She really does a good job of finding interactive learning tools on the web, such as videos and websites that correspond with her lessons. One of the websites had was a program where you could move the moon up, down, and around the earth's orbit showing how the moons placement affected an eclipse. The students often asked questions, and one student even connected what they were learning to a concept they learned a few weeks ago. After seeing Mrs. Brocato's classroom and how the students respond to her teaching style, I would like my teaching style to be very similar to hers. She does a great job of balancing a teacher oriented classroom while creating a positive learning environment for her students to flourish in. She actively engages her students in her lessons and utilizes technology to help captivate the interest of the students. She also allows students to discover their own learning, although it wasn't used in this lesson we've had discussions about it, which is also an important part of what I hope to do. Because Mrs. Brocato's teaching style is so similar to where I'd like to have mine, I'm really excited to work with her learning different ways she incorporates her teaching style into the classroom.
Observation: This week I only had the opportunity to observe my middle school due to NECAP testing. The class was mainly a lecture, introducing a new the new concept of Eclipses. Because the students aren't allowed to take their books home, the teacher incorporates reading the material in the book as part of her way for introducing new material. Students take turns reading a paragraph, and after each paragraph the teacher pauses to further explain what mew concepts were introduced. To accompany the reading, the teacher put notes on her Smartboard that she had previously made. She included hyperlinks to interactive learning tools that helped reinforce the concepts of the lesson and the students seemed very responsive of these. The lecture concluded after about 45 minutes and the teacher recapped the key concepts and terms by asking questions to students and leading a discussion. After the discussion, she asked the students to work in groups to complete a worksheet using data of seen eclipses and data of full and new moons. The classroom is set up so students are already in groups which saves time in making groups and rearranging the classroom for groupwork. During the groupwork, the teacher and I walked around the classroom checking in with the groups and answering questions they might have had, further explaining the concepts and making sure every student fully understood them. The teacher then went over the answers with the students, calling on students to explain their answers. The students then watched a video from Discovery Education which touched on nearly all of the concepts taught in the unit.
Reflection: After being in Mrs. Brocato's classroom for the second time, it is clear the students really respect and listen to her. As students walked in they quietly came in talking amongst themselves, sat down and got prepared for class. As soon as the bell rang, Mrs. Brocato began talking and had the students undivided attention. It's clear that Mrs. Brocato's teaching style is more teacher oriented than student oriented, but I feel like has a good balance where although she is in control of the class, many of her activities and labs are group oriented. In the groups, students also worked in a quiet and orderly manner. In other classes I've observed, groupwork can be an opportunity for students to get off task and simply talk to each other. In Mrs. Brocato's classroom however, the students seemed to utilize this time extremely well staying on task throughout the activity. It seems as though students are clear as to what is expected of them and I haven't even seen Mrs. Brocato try to get a student back on task because they all seem to be engrossed in every lecture and activity. One reason for this could be because at Exeter West Greenwich Junior High they loop their students, meaning that the students stay with the same team in both 7th and 8th grade. From what I've seen I don't believe that she treats her classes differently, although I've only had the opportunity to observe the same classroom twice. I think one of the reasons the students are so engaged in her style of teaching is due to the use of the Smartboard. She really does a good job of finding interactive learning tools on the web, such as videos and websites that correspond with her lessons. One of the websites had was a program where you could move the moon up, down, and around the earth's orbit showing how the moons placement affected an eclipse. The students often asked questions, and one student even connected what they were learning to a concept they learned a few weeks ago. After seeing Mrs. Brocato's classroom and how the students respond to her teaching style, I would like my teaching style to be very similar to hers. She does a great job of balancing a teacher oriented classroom while creating a positive learning environment for her students to flourish in. She actively engages her students in her lessons and utilizes technology to help captivate the interest of the students. She also allows students to discover their own learning, although it wasn't used in this lesson we've had discussions about it, which is also an important part of what I hope to do. Because Mrs. Brocato's teaching style is so similar to where I'd like to have mine, I'm really excited to work with her learning different ways she incorporates her teaching style into the classroom.